In 2024, women made up 46.97% of South Africa’s labour force, according to the latest World Bank data released in June 2025. Yet despite this near-equal representation, women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership and management roles. This disparity is evident among South Africa’s JSE Top 40 listed companies, where women hold just 36% of board seats on average, well below gender parity, and occupy only 23% of executive management positions, a figure that declined by two percentage points, according to a Just Share briefing published on 30th October 2024.
However, there’s growing pressure to close that gap. The Employment Equity Amendment Act, which came into effect on 1st January 2025, sets clear targets for gender transformation at management level. But beyond compliance, there’s a strong business case too. Studies show that companies with greater female leadership are more innovative, more profitable, and better at retaining talent.
According to Serisha Sirputh, Director at LDM, a built environment consultancy firm, and a vocal advocate for gender inclusion in the construction sector, real change starts from within. “Empowerment isn’t an event. It’s a long-term commitment to creating environments where women can grow, lead and thrive,” says Sirputh. “You can’t just open the door though – you need to walk through it together.”
Sirputh shares five practical strategies for growing women from within, based on successful approaches at LDM:
1. Identify and Develop Potential Early
Women shouldn’t be expected to wait for opportunities to prove themselves. Managers are encouraged to go beyond performance metrics, recognising potential and fostering it through structured support. The impact of giving someone their first chance before they’re 100% ‘ready’ is when real growth begins.
2. Put Women in Roles that Shape Outcomes
Growing women from within means giving them access to the roles that actually move the needle. At LDM, six women have stepped into project management roles – overseeing teams, timelines and delivery across multiple sites – while two others serve on the board. It’s not about ticking a box. It’s about changing the narrative of who leads.
3. Build Systems that Support Real Inclusion
From site safety to working hours, systems and structures can either unlock potential or shut it down. Make small but meaningful changes, like adjusting shift times and ensuring safe working environments, which have had a major impact on retention at LDM. You can’t tell women to rise in a system that was never designed with them in mind.
4. Build Confidence Through Expertise
Confidence doesn’t always come before capability – it often comes after. By running continuous technical upskilling and mentorship programmes for women across departments, companies can help them build expertise first. And when women deliver on complex tasks, it transforms the perceptions of everyone. This capability-first approach allows confidence to develop naturally through proven competence.
5. Tell their Stories
Celebrating women’s journeys inside your business sends a powerful message, both internally and externally. So, share success stories regularly in team meetings and even some company communication channels, thereby shifting the narrative from exception to norm. Because every story you share is a signal to someone else that this path is possible
“For LDM, growing women from within hasn’t been about one big policy shift, but many small, deliberate actions over time,” notes Sirputh. “The results are already visible; in team meetings, on building sites, and in a new generation of women stepping into leadership. Change doesn’t just happen,” she concludes. “You have to build it.”